Warped (Maurissa Guibord)

thread.
    "Take me!" she yelled up to the sky, sobbing. "Take me instead of him. Take my life."
    Something snapped; Tessa fell backward with the sudden release. Will fell to the ground beside her, gasping, holding her wrist in the same spot where she had tied his thread.
    "Tessa," he said, hugging her close. Tessa felt the earth rumble as she wrapped her arms around Will. He was real and warm and smelled, as he always did, of leather and smoky wood and spice. The ground pitched beneath them. A tearing, ripping noise filled the air as the world around them, Gray Lily's world, seemed to unravel. Trees splintered apart and leaves whirled up to the sky. The moon dissolved, bubbling away across the sky in a streak of light.
    Tessa clung to Will. "I'm sorry," she said, whispering into his ear. She hung on to him, ready for the end.
    But that didn't happen.

Chapter 45

Actually, Tessa couldn't understand what happened next. It was as if the sky split open and another world washed over the dark one that had just disintegrated. A great, bright wave of it knocked Tessa over, submerging her. She felt herself torn from Will. She screamed, waiting for liquid to fill her lungs, to drown her.
    But it wasn't water that engulfed her. Tessa stood up and breathed. She was alive.
    "Where am I?" Her voice sounded unnaturally loud, and echoed back to her. She looked around. She stood on a green hillside. Far beneath her the land ended in a dense cloud, blocking any view of how high she was or what lay below.
    But it was dazzling. Each blade of grass at her feet seemed distinct and beautiful. And the colors. This world had colors Tessa had never seen and had no words for. The air around her was as intricate as lace. She reached up and the air seemed to quiver, sending a wave of the noncolors rippling away from her. She looked around for Will, but he wasn't there.
    She could see a small plateau cut into the hillside in the distance; it held a pool of glassy green water on which two swans floated. Nearby stood a huge tree whose stark branches made a tangle against the sea-blue sky. As she walked closer, Tessa heard another sound in the quiet, and somehow she thought it was coming from that tree. It was a sound like breathing.
    Three cloaked figures were walking toward her. Tessa recognized them from, well, her bathroom mirror. The Norn had arrived.
    They were still cloaked in dark robes, and the only hints that Tessa had of their faces were vague, shadowed features and an occasional flickering gleam of their eyes.
    "You have succeeded, mortal," said one of them. Tessa recognized the deep, hollow voice of Scytha. "The stolen threads have been returned. All except for one."
    For a moment Tessa froze. All except for one . Will. A panicky sense of confusion overtook her. His thread hadn't drifted away like the others. She'd held on. But where was he? She tried to hide her fear as she replied to the Norn.
    "You can't have that one," Tessa said.
    "We can't--" Scytha's booming voice repeated, only to break off in amazement. "Foolish child. What are you saying?"
    "You lied to me," Tessa said steadily. "You told me you would give Will his life back. But you lied. He would have died of smallpox."
    "It was not a lie," said Scytha. She drifted closer and Tessa saw the piercing shine of the huge shears in one heavy hand. "It was his fate. He must return to it."
    Scytha came even closer and Tessa felt a sense of stillness, of time suspended. She wasn't aware of breathing or blinking or even having a pulse when Scytha loomed over her. Maybe she didn't.
    "Where is he?" Scytha raised the shears. The sharp blades sang as they opened wide. Tessa tried to avert her eyes against the blinding glare but couldn't. The light seemed to cut right into her. The shears hovered over Tessa's head.
    One of the other Norn stooped to touch something at her feet. "Stop," said Spyn. She pointed. "He's here."
    Tessa saw that a vast fabric had appeared, swirling around the feet of the Norn. Or perhaps it had been there all along; she wasn't sure. It was made of myriad threads of colors she knew and colors she had no words for. She could see no beginning or end to it.
    "She has done something," said Scytha in a puzzled tone. "Her thread is intertwined with his. Tied together. I can't cut one without cutting the other."
    Tessa heaved an inward sigh. Will was alive. The feeling of relief was so intense, she felt her knees sag beneath her. Somehow the air supported her.
    Spyn